A salesperson has been accused of getting drunk and groping a secretary on a metro train, a court heard on Tuesday.

The Indian secretary had boarded Dubai Metro from Noor Bank station heading back home in February.

A few minutes after departure, a 38-year-old countryman salesperson came, according to records, and sat beside her at 11.30pm.

Believed to be drunk, the salesperson slid his hand between the purse straps and the secretary’s waist before he groped her several times.

The woman pushed the man’s hand away and scolded him before she reported the matter to the police.

The police apprehended the man who tried to escape twice.

Prosecutors charged the suspect with groping but the suspect pleaded not guilty when he showed up before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Tuesday.

“I did not touch her … yes I was drunk,” the suspect told presiding judge Mohammad Jamal.

The secretary told prosecutors that the suspect seemed too drunk when he sat adjacent to her in the metro cabin.

“He put his arm between the straps of my purse and my waist and then repeatedly fondled me. I shouted at him immediately and pushed his hand away. He begged me not to report him to the police and keep it low before other passengers. I was petrified and insisted on calling the police. He was taken into custody,” she testified to prosecutors.

A police sergeant told prosecutors that he was on duty at the metro station when the woman reported that she had been groped by the suspect.